Whatsapp Statistics

Free instant messaging has become a huge deal during the last decade, especially in the parts of the world where mobile carriers are ripping people off with insane SMS charges.

We’ve seen numerous apps dedicated to this purpose rise and fall. Some got too greedy and lost users due to unpopular changes they implemented to increase the profit, while others slowly drifted into oblivion due to the lack of features the users were after.

According to the WhatsApp statistics below, the app has managed to remain near the top of the list of the most popular messaging apps for nearly 10 years now, and it seems to be stronger than ever. All projections point to an upward trend in the number of its users, revenue, and most importantly, user satisfaction.

Here is a list of essential statistics to help you understand just what the team behind it did right to stay at the top.

WhatsApp Stats (Editor’s Choice)

1 million people register on WhatsApp daily.

WhatsApp has 300 million daily active users worldwide.

The top country by user numbers is Brazil.

WhatsApp lets its users delete messages sent by mistake within 7 minutes.

WhatsApp is banned in 12 countries.

There are 3 million companies using WhatsApp Business.

More than 2 billion minutes of voice and video calls are made on WhatsApp daily.

84% of SMBs think that WhatsApp helps them communicate with customers.

WhatsApp User Stats

1. WhatsApp had 450 million daily active users in Q2 2018.

The second trimester of 2018 was fairly successful for WhatsApp as the service had 450 million users who were using the app on a daily basis. The quarter saw an increase of more than 150 million active users from Q3 2017.

(Statista)

2. WhatsApp has 1.5 billion active users in over 180 countries.

The 1.5 billion active users of WhatsApp are spread across the globe. The app has a presence in 180 out of 193 countries in the world, which is the largest share among all messaging and social networks.

(Statista)

3. On average, 1 million people register on WhatsApp daily.

WhatsApp user numbers are a constantly increasing variable. An average day on the messaging platform sees around one million new users. To compare with the competition once again, Skype has an average of 400,000 new users daily.

5. The average user checks WhatsApp more than 23 times per day.

If you consider your anxiety about incoming messages strange, the information that an average WhatsApp user checks her phone 23 times a day to see if there are new messages should be comforting to you.

(Statista)

6. The number of WhatsApp users in the USA is predicted to grow to 25.6 million by 2021.

Ever since 2015, WhatsApp’s popularity in America has been increasing. The number of US users has been steadily growing. The company has been gaining around 2 million users from this country over the last four years. This pace is expected to last for at least another three years, with the number of people from the States who use WhatsApp reaching 25.6 million by 2021.

(Statista)

7. 58% of users access WhatsApp several times a day.

In order for users to be considered active, they need to access the app at least once per month. WhatsApp users mostly exceed this requirement. Most of WhatsApp users check the app multiple times a day. In a 2016 survey, 58% of the respondents declared that they access the messaging app several times per day.

(Statista)

8. 44% of US users accessed WhatsApp several times a day in 2017.

The 44% of WhatsApp users who reside within the US accessed the app multiple times a day back in 2017. The data from consecutive years shows an increase in this number.

(Mashable)

9. 81% of iPhone users in Italy use WhatsApp.

According to WhatsApp statistics, iPhone users from Italy are serious about free messaging with 81% of them using WhatsApp as their primary messaging app.

(Expanded Ramblings)

10. 17% of smartphone users in Finland use WhatsApp.

The Finnish users are not as enthusiastic about WhatsApp as Italians. Only 17% of Android and iOS users from Finland use the app as their main means of messaging.

(Emarketer)

11. 31% of social messaging users in Ireland use WhatsApp.

Just under a third of social messaging users from Ireland use WhatsApp and prefer it to other apps that fulfill a similar purpose.

(Similar Web)

12. 84% of mobile phone internet users in Argentina use WhatsApp.

Sorting WhatsApp statistics by country, we can see that Argentina’s population is on the upper end of the spectrum when it comes to usage among mobile internet users. 84% of Argentinians use WhatsApp as their primary messaging smartphone application.

(PayMill)

13. The top country by user numbers is Brazil.

Brazil tops the list of WhatsApp users, with 19.91% of the total number of users coming from this country. India is second with 7.61%, while Turkey is the home of 5.62% of WhatsApp users.

(Alfred Lua)

WhatsApp Facts

14. WhatsApp was founded in 2009 by Brian Acton and Jan Koum, former Yahoo employees.

After leaving Yahoo in 2007, Brian Acton and Jan Koum decided to take a break and travel to South America. Returning from the trip, the duo realized the potential that iPhone’s app store had for new messaging apps that allow some personalization. They brought in an iOS developer, Igor Solomennikov, and founded WhatsApp Inc. in California, on February 24, 2009.

(Unbox Troubleshoot Facts)

15. Jan Koum keeps a note from Brian taped to his desk that reads “No Ads! No Games! No Gimmicks!”.

The founding duo of WhatsApp always wanted to make a simple app that focused on one main feature, with no unnecessary gimmicks that distract from the main purpose. This is the reason why Jan Koum keeps Brian Acton’s note that reads “No Ads! No Games! No Gimmicks!”on his desk to this day.

(Unbox Troubleshoot Facts)

16. WhatsApp spent zero cash on marketing, PR, and user acquisition.

Jan Koum and Brian Acton’s hatred towards ads is best shown by the fact that their company hasn’t invested a dime in advertising since its inception. The company doesn’t even employ PR and marketing staff. WhatsApp was always reliant on its simple and straightforward nature to draw in new users. Instead of investing millions of dollars in marketing, they flooded the development department with resources to create the most liked messaging platform on the planet.

(The Crazy Facts)

17. WhatsApp has 55 employees and 50 engineers.

Most people would expect a company that has over 1 billion users to have thousands of employees, but WhatsApp surprises us once again. It managed to build a messaging empire with only 55 employees and 50 engineers behind the scenes. As mentioned above, the company doesn’t employ any marketing or PR staff.

(Make Use Of)

18. WhatsApp is valued more than the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of some countries.

WhatsApp’s market value exceeds the GDP of numerous countries around the world. Some of them come as no surprise, such as countries from the Balkans, but WhatsApp also appears to be more successful than some of the countries that top the lists of life satisfaction, such as Iceland. Japan is another example of a country with a lower GDP than WhatsApp’s value.

(Fortune)

19. Twitter and Facebook had the chance to hire WhatsApp founder Brian Acton.

Before deciding to take a year off, Brian Acton applied for job vacancies both at Facebook and Twitter but was rejected. He and Jan Koum than decided to take their savings of approximately $400,000 and travel to Latin America.

(WhatsApp)

20. Google offered to purchase WhatsApp for $10 billion in 2014.

WhatsApp decided to decline Google’s acquisition offer back in 2014. The search giant offered to buy WhatsApp for $10 billion, which, luckily, WhatsApp declined. Just a few months later, the company was sold to Facebook for nearly double what Google was offering.

(Popular Timelines)

21. On February 19, 2014, Facebook announced its acquisition of WhatsApp for $19 billion, its largest acquisition to date.

WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook on February 19, 2014. The company spent $19 billion to buy the messaging app, making its largest purchase to date.

(Tech Crunch)

22. WhatsApp joined Facebook in 2014 but continues to operate as a separate app.

Facebook decided to keep WhatsApp independent, which proved to be the best possible move, especially considering the fact that some users expressed concerns over Facebook potentially meddling in the business and ruining the experience they’ve had so far with WhatsApp. Fortunately for them, the WhatsApp turnover has only been increasing, as well as the popularity of the app.

(Business Insider)

23. WhatsApp launched WhatsApp Business for small business use in January 2018.

WhatsApp needed to come up with something to make profit. The obvious move was to run ads on the platform, but as we already established, the founders were strictly against this. The next logical step was to somehow involve business users, which was accomplished at the beginning of 2018.

(Wikipedia)

24. WhatsApp lets its users delete messages sent by mistake within 7 minutes.

WhatsApp users have the option to change their mind about a sent message and delete it within 7 minutes of sending it. This feature is useful for those who commonly make spelling errors or have a habit of texting the wrong people. Many of us regret sending drunk texts, so the feature definitely comes in handy.

(Tech Crunch)

25. The European Commission fined Facebook €110 million in 2017 for "misleading" it during the 2014 takeover of WhatsApp.

Due to the violation of EU Merger Regulations, Facebook was fined €110 million in 2017. The company was accused and found guilty of intentionally misleading the European Commission that was investigating the acquisition of WhatsApp.

(Unbox Troubleshoot Facts)

26. WhatsApp generated just $15 million in revenue and had a loss of $232.5 million in 2014.

WhatsApp revenue has always been a strange topic that, at first glance, implies that the company isn’t doing that great. Due to the company’s policy to avoid ads, it made a loss of more than $230 million in 2014, raking in only $15 million. Nowadays, the company is turning a profit after implementing the option to allow businesses to respond to customers using the platform.

(WhatsApp)

27. WhatsApp is banned in 12 countries.

People of 12 countries around the world don’t have access to WhatsApp due to their respective government’s concerns about the application. In fact, WhatsApp is the most banned app in the world, while Facebook is banned in seven countries. Twitter is not available in seven countries around the world, and users from six countries can’t watch videos on YouTube. The list of countries that banned WhatsApp includes China, Bangladesh, Iran, North Korea, Syria, UAE, and others.

(RJST Online)

28. WhatsApp introduced voice messaging in 2013.

At first, WhatsApp was functioning strictly as a simple text messaging app. Then, in 2013, the company decided that some changes needed to be made and added voice messaging to the app’s features.

(Techno Buffalo)

29. WhatsApp will soon be available for KaiOS feature phones.

WhatsApp usage among users with cheaper phones is about to skyrocket. Affordable, low-spec phones that don’t rely on operating systems such as Android and iOs will soon have a new OS to work with. Linux-based KaiOS brings full features of other operating systems, with much less impact on the speed of the device. This is quite handy for devices with cheaper hardware. The architecture is based on Firefox OS that was discontinued in 2016. WhatsApp is preparing its app for KaiOS, and it should be soon available for download.

(Tech Crunch)

30. WhatsApp launched its Web Client in January 2015.

At the start of 2015, WhatsApp decided to enable its users to access the platform using desktop computers. The desktop version of the app has all the same features as the mobile one, allowing users to send texts, images, videos, and voice calls.

(Forbes)

31. WhatsApp on Android supports 60 languages.

WhatsApp installed on Android devices is available in 60 languages to fulfill the instant messaging needs of the global audience.

WhatsApp has had experience with hackers, as most major companies in the tech world do at some point. Back in 2011, hackers found a hole in WhatsApp’s security and exposed millions of accounts. Luckily, WhatsApp doesn’t hold any data on its servers about the messages that the users exchange, so the damages were minimal.

(Owler)

33. WhatsApp got removed from the iOS App Store in January 2012 but was re-added later.

There are some WhatsApp personal statistics and facts that the company refuses to disclose. Due to unknown reasons, WhatsApp was removed from the iOS App Store back at the beginning of 2012. The app was returned four days later, and the details of the removal still remain under the vale of secrecy.

(Crunchbase)

34. There are 3 million companies using WhatsApp Business.

Since WhatsApp Business was introduced, more than 3 million companies have joined the network. Some of them use it as the main method of direct communication with consumers, while a minority missed the point completely and is present on the platform just for show.

(Statista)

35. Jan Koum became a billionaire in 2015.

Jan Koum, WhatsApp’s CEO and one of the founders, is one of those famous billionaires who quit college to pursue their dreams. He quit right before graduating and went to work for Yahoo. Today, his net worth is approximately $9.5 billion, and he earned his first billion back in 2015.

(Statista)

36. WhatsApp is worth more than NASA, Harley Davidson, or American Airlines.

WhatsApp stats point that the price WhatsApp was purchased for in 2014 was a larger amount than an estimated value of some of the top companies in the world. For example, NASA is valued at $17 billion, Harley Davidson Motorcycles at $14.1 billion, and American Airlines has a market value of $12.3 billion. WhatsApp was sold for $19 billion.

(We Are Flint)

37. WhatsApp has $112.5 million in annual revenue.

WhatsApp has never officially come out with revenue data, but experts put their revenue numbers at somewhere around $112.5 million annually. The company is expected to turn larger profit margins in the near future, after years of taking significant losses.

(CNBC)

38. WhatsApp Messenger was ranked first in the social networking category, with almost 11.6 million downloads by iPhone users worldwide in July 2018.

The summer of 2018 was fairly successful for WhatsApp, as the app was ranked first in the social networking category in Apple’s App Store. The messaging app took the decisive first spot with 11.58 million downloads during July, while Facebook Messenger, its parent company’s product, had 9.62 million downloads during the same period.

(The Quint)

39. WhatsApp averaged 115.9 sessions per user per month.

WhatsApp trends point that, during July of 2018, the platform was ranked fourth on the list of the most popular messaging apps in the US. WhatsApp users visited the app 115.9 times per month on average. The third spot on the list was taken by Snapchat, with an average user checking the app 133.9 times in a month. WeChat took the second place, while Facebook’s Messenger was the top choice among the US users.

(Cnet, We Are Flint)

40. 80% of UK adults aged 18-24 were WhatsApp users in January 2018.

At the beginning of 2018, We Are Flint interviewed more than 2,000 adults from the UK about their social media habits and came to the result that 80% of those aged 18-24 were using WhatsApp.

(Business Insider)

41. Companies can use the WhatsApp chat feature for free, as long as they respond to a customer's message within 24 hours.

As mentioned multiple times before, WhatsApp refuses to run traditional ads on its platform. It allows businesses to be present, and they aren’t even charged if they answer customers’ messages within 24 hours.

(Business Insider)

42. Since May 2018, WhatsApp-borne rumors have allegedly led to at least 19 deaths in India.

Rumors spread on WhatsApp lead to nearly 20 deaths in India during May 2018. Fake messages about child traffickers, robbers, and criminals being in certain cities led to mob lynchings and numerous incidents that caused the deaths of potentially innocent people.

(Daily Times)

WhatsApp Usage Statistics 2020

43. More than 2 billion minutes of voice and video calls are made on WhatsApp daily.

Over 2 billion minutes of voice and video calls go through WhatsApp every day. Skype, one of WhatsApp’s main competitors, is ahead in this aspect, as its users spend close to 3 billion minutes per day making voice and video calls every day.

(Cnet)

44. 100 million voice calls and 55 million video calls are made daily on WhatsApp.

The 2 billion minutes of voice and video calls mentioned in the previous paragraph are achieved through 100 million voice calls and 55 million video calls that occur every day on WhatsApp.

(Venture Beat)

45. More than 65 billion text messages are sent through WhatsApp daily.

WhatsApp stats show that the users exchange over 65 billion messages every day using the messaging platform. WhatsApp messaging activity now exceeds the global volume of SMS messaging by more than three times, as there are 20 billion SMS messages exchanged daily.

(Mobile Industry Review)

46. 75 billion messages, including 13 billion images and 5 billion videos, were sent on New Year’s Eve, 2017.

New Year’s Eve is a busy time for any company, regardless of the type of business it conducts. This was especially true for WhatsApp back in 2017, when the app hosted more than 75 billion messages in a single evening. More than 13 billion images and 5 billion videos were sent on that joyous night.

(Unbox Troubleshoot Facts)

47. Users spend 195 minutes on average on WhatsApp weekly.

An average Joe or Jane spends nearly 200 minutes on WhatsApp every week, communicating with friends, family, acquaintances, and business partners.

(Statista)

48. WhatsApp is responsible for 30% of selfies shared on social media.

Nearly a third of all selfies shared on social media comes from WhatsApp users. The messaging app’s users seem to really like taking photos of themselves and sharing them with their friends.

(9to5Mac)

49. More than 73% of Saudi Arabia's population are active WhatsApp users.

During Q3 2017, WhatsApp was actively used by 73% of Saudi Arabia’s population. Meanwhile, 68% of Malaysia’s population was on WhatsApp too, while 65% of Germans used the app on a regular basis. Canadians weren’t that keen on installing and using WhatsApp, as just 19% of the population were active users at the time.

(Media Kix)

50. In 2017, WhatsApp announced that users were sending 55 billion messages, 4.5 billion photos, and one billion videos per day.

On July 26, 2017, some WhatsApp statistics were proudly announced by the company. At the time, the app was seeing more than 55 billion text messages, 4.5 billion photos, and a billion videos exchanged among the users in just a single day. These numbers have been consistently increasing ever since.

(Digital News Report)

51. WhatsApp is the number one source for news in several countries, like Malaysia.

According to a survey conducted by Reuters in 2017, WhatsApp became one of the leading news sources in several countries around the world. For example, 51% of Malaysians involved in the survey said that WhatsApp is their main source of information and news. When it comes to the US, only 3% percent of respondents said they use WhatsApp for the purpose of keeping up with the news.

(Financial Express, Digital News Report)

52. One billion groups are in use on WhatsApp.

Users can search and join numerous groups on WhatsApp based on their interests, from those selling vehicles to discussing religious topics and video games. With over one billion groups available, there’s something for everyone.

(Vox)

53. 200 million people from India use WhatsApp.

India comes on top when sorting WhatsApp users by country. This country is one of the largest markets for WhatsApp, with over 200 million people using the app. For comparison, there are around 20 million Americans using WhatsApp, with projections that this number will reach 24.6 million by 2020.

(Unbox Troubleshoot Facts)

54. Only 2 million people from China use WhatsApp.

China is definitely not fond of WhatsApp, with just 2 million people using the app in this country. There are nearly 1.4 billion people living in the country, so the 2 million WhatsApp users amounts to just over 0.14% of the Chinese population.

(Smart Insights)

55. Around 200 million images are trashed on WhatsApp in a single day.

WhatsApp users have the option to hide photos from their gallery and trash them. The amount of photos that get trashed every day is approximately 200 million.

(Gadgets Now)

56. There are more than 29 million messages sent per minute on WhatsApp.

During a single minute, WhatsApp users send and receive more than 29 million messages. The massive number includes only text messages and excludes image, video, and audio formats.

(Facebook Newsroom)

57. WhatsApp is installed on 94.8% of all Android devices in India.

Close to 95% of Android devices in India have WhatsApp installed. The vast majority of the Indian population uses this app as their primary means of communication, mostly due to the fact that it’s free as opposed to mobile carrier’s SMS charges.

(Emarketer)

58. 70% of WhatsApp users check the app daily.

WhatsApp has one of the largest bases of daily active users, as 70% of those registered use it without skipping a day.

(Washington Post)

59. 6.2% of WhatsApp Android apps were uninstalled after being installed.

It wouldn’t be a full list of WhatsApp stats if we didn’t include some negative ones. Just 6.2% of Android users who downloaded WhatsApp changed their minds and uninstalled the app. This makes WhatsApp the least uninstalled Android app ever. There are basically no other well-known apps on the list that come near to WhatsApp in this aspect. Yandex Search has a 7.7% uninstall rate, while Pandora and others are well above 10%.

(Your Story)

60. Indians sent each other more than 20 billion 2018 New Year’s Eve greetings via WhatsApp.

The use of WhatsApp in India is so prominent that over 20 billion messages were exchanged during the final night of 2017 among the users in the country. Even though Brazil beats India when it comes to the percentage of users, it can’t come anywhere near the message traffic numbers that the Indian user base creates.

(Youth Ki Awaaz)

61. WhatsApp helps over 80% of small businesses in India and Brazil.

The popularity of WhatsApp in the Indian and Brazilian markets expands beyond personal use. Over 80% of small businesses in these regions have decided to join the app and provide customer support through it.

(Poynter)

62. 84% of SMBs think that WhatsApp helps them communicate with customers.

According to WhatsApp marketing statistics, 2020 will be the turning point for most businesses who considered using the app. A large majority of small and medium businesses agree that WhatsApp is a major part of their relations with customers and clients. The 84% of those selling goods and services on a small and medium-sized scale find the direct communication they achieve through the app to be an essential part of their success.

(Hootsuite)

63. The average group size on WhatsApp is six people.

An average WhatsApp group chat has six people, while 90% of the messages sent are one-on-one.

(The Crazy Facts)

64. Group chats let you message up to 256 people at once, sharing messages, photos, and videos.

WhatsApp groups can hold up to 256 participants. They can share messages, photos, and videos among each other, with no restrictions.

(Hootsuite)

65. WhatsApp says that an average user opens the app at least 23 times on a daily basis.

Official statistics reveal that an average WhatsApp user opens the app 23 times or more in a day, roughly once every hour.

(Text Request)

66. WhatsApp is the third most downloaded app in the world.

WhatsApp statistics show that the free messaging app is near the top of the list of the most downloaded apps of all time. As of July 2019, WhatsApp holds the proud fifth third as the most downloaded app in the world. Facebook and YouTube are ahead, at least for now.

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